


Heart and Ice

by coff3ewitch



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coff3ewitch/pseuds/coff3ewitch
Summary: Titanic AU for malina
Relationships: Mal Oretsev/Alina Starkov





	Heart and Ice

The wind whipped at Alina Starkov’s face as she stood on the bow of the largest ship in the world with her betrothed Aleksander Morova. He gripped her arm tightly, protectively but in a cold manner as if to tell Alina that she was his property, his right. Given what her mother had planned it just might be. 

Alina’s face fell as the boat took off from the dock and the people on the docks waved them off. This was the end of her life, and the beginning, she thought, of her eternal slavery. 

Alina pulled her arm from Aleksander’s gripped causing nearby passengers to look. Alina’s mother, Ana Kuya glared down her nose at Alina. 

“Behave,” she whispered. 

Alina scoffed and marched back to her room with Aleksander following. As soon as they enter her room he pushed her towards the wall. 

“How dare to try and embarrass me like that? I’m your betrothed. I’m saving your stupid family from bankrupt, and without me you’d be nothing,” he yelled. 

Alina back away from him shock. She knew he could get angry, but this was the first time she saw the depth of it. He liked control, and damn be anyone to get in his way. 

“I’m sorry,” Alina stated. It came out almost cold, automatic. She didn’t mean it and Aleksander knew it, but he didn’t push it. 

“I’m going for a drink with the lads, and you better think about what you’ve done while I’m gone,” Aleksander said before leaving the cabin. 

Left alone Alina glanced around the space for the first time. She felt trapped. Her chest tightened as she suddenly felt like she couldn’t suck in enough air. Panicked flood her mind as she suddenly felt like she was suffocating. She slammed through the door into the hallway, and quickly walked down the hall towards the upper docks. Turning the corner she saw the back of Aleksander as he walked toward the first class bar while on lookers openly stared at him in adoration. 

Alina took a left instead and came to a set of stares leading up to the docks.

Alina grabbed the railing and sucked in the ocean air greedily. Men and women passed her giving her strange looks but never stopping to to help her. High status individuals did not like to see a public display of mental anguish. They valued outward appearance above all. 

Feeling like a zoo animal trapped and ridiculed Alina starts to sprint towards the front of the boat.   
Her mind was screaming, ‘Escape,’ in time to every heart beat. She shoved passed gawking crew members and high society members going about their business. 

She ran passed a series of benches ignoring the young man smoking on his back as he gazed at the stars, admiringly. Being a London born street urchin, he had never really seen the stars this clear and bright. The smog from London’s infrastructure ruined these sites, and he couldn’t believe he was the only one noticing this beauty. 

He heard the soft sobs before he saw her. A beautiful, high class woman running towards the front of the boat. Stunned, he stood up and walked after her, wondering if she needed help. Having been alone most of his life he knew what it was like to cry alone and he hated it. 

Alina could feel the tears stream down her face as she slammed into the railing. She could see her breath forming with each gasp of air she took in, but her mind was a whirl. ‘I could do it,’ she thought. 

Shaking she climb up on the railing and stared into the bottomless abyss of the ocean. 

“Miss, don’t do it,” the young man said. 

“Leave me alone,” Alina screamed back. 

“You don’t want to do this? Tell me your name.”

“What? Why not?”

“Your name, please. I’m Mal,” Mal said holding out his hand. 

“Alina,” she responded. 

“Alina, have you ever practiced cartography?”

“What,” Alina said visibly shocked. This was not where she thought this conversation was going. 

“You know, cartography,” Mal continued. “It’s where you travel specific areas and draw the lay of the land-“

“I know what cartography is,” Alina cut him off.   
“What does this have to do with this.” 

Alina turned around to face Mal fully now. Mal noticed that her breathing was more calm and relaxed, a thought that worried him into continuing his story. 

“Well I used to draw maps with my father before he passed and we would mark the topography of the nearby area of our childhood home, and one day I fell into a pond that had been frozen and snow over so that it looked like an untouched field. It was almost spring and I took 3 steps and fell clean through. The ice it cuts to your bone. The pain is all you can think about. You don’t want to jump in there.”

Mal took a couple of steps forward and flicked his cigarette over the edge so that Alina could watch it fall. The height of the rail she was standing on would plummet almost a hundred feet. 

She swallowed and faced Mal again. 

“You don’t know me, so don’t pretend to care. I want this,” Alina said as she leaned forward.   
Mal’s heart skipped a beat. 

“No you don’t. You would have done it already.”  
“You’re distracting me. Leave me alone.”

Mal started to take off his jacket. 

“I can’t. If you jump in going to have to go in after you, and I really don’t want to do that.” 

“You’ll die.”

Mal shrugged, “I’m a good swimmer.”

Alina watched as Mal started to slip his shoes off.   
“You’re crazy.”

Mal looked up at that. 

“I might have gambled my life savings to get on this ship, but, and no offense Miss, you’re the one standing on the rail of ship.”

Alina couldn’t respond to that and simply looked down into the cold water again.

“Please. Take my hand.” 

Mal reached his hands forward and slowly Alina grabbed his hand. As she started to make her way over the railing she slipped letting out a startled scream. 

Mal held firm determined to not let her go. Alina’s stomach felt like it had dropped into her throat.   
She squeezed her eyes shut avoiding looking down as Mal slowly pulled her back on the deck and hugged her to his body instinctively.   
“You’re ok. You’re ok,” he repeated over and over rubbing her back. 

She stepped back to stare up at his face. A thank you dying before it reached her lips. They stared at each other for a long moment before Alina pulled away, and Mal dropped his arm letting her stop back. 

Remembering himself he picks up his jacket and drapes it around her. 

“You looked a little cold,” he says smiling. 

“What is going on here?”

The stern voice cut the moment like bite of the cold ocean. Alina and mal turned to Aleksander at the same time like two deer caught in the headlights.   
Aleksander was with Alina’s mom and some crew. 

“I heard that a woman, who looked like my betrothed, wearing the dress I bought her, was running over the deck of the ship bawling her eyes out.” He turns to Mal and continues, “I assume this is your doing?”

“No-“

“I slipped. Will you accost my rescuer,” Alina asked staring intently at Aleksander. 

“No I suppose not. The boy’s a hero,” Aleksander declares to the bystanders. The bystanders around give awkward claps, unsure of the situation.

Aleksander turns back to Mal. Pulling out his wallet he shoved $20 in his hand. 

“Take it, for saving my fiancé.” He emphasizes fiancé so that Mal could understand that’s she’s his already. 

Aleksander turns back to Alina. 

“My darling, I’m so glad you’re safe. Let’s get you inside and warmed up.”

Ignoring that Mal’s coat was still on her her drapes his own jacket over her. 

“Wait. Only $20? Is that all I’m worth to you,” 

Alina asks standing firm as Aleksander tries to pull her away. 

“Fine. $40 then,” Aleksander ground out. He pulled another $20 from his wallet and tossed it to Mal before leaving into Alinas ear. 

“But don’t think I don’t notice he’s not wearing shoes,” he whispered. 

Alina turned to Aleksander in shock knowing her cover was blown.

Without another word Aleksander pulled Alina away from Mal back to their cabin. 

Mal stood on the deck watching them walk away before he picked up his shoes and headed back to his cabin in third class that he shared with 5 other men; the stars forgotten


End file.
